PLEASE don’t go turning over rocks looking for funnel web spiders, especially if you are young and male, after reading this article.
But if you happen to find one, the Australian Reptile Park is desperate to have it, alive. It is facing a shortage of funnel web spiders, which are milked for the venom used to create anti-venom.
About 300 people are bitten by funnel webs every year, and about 60 of those ”are life and death situations”, said the park’s educator, Michael Tate.